________________________________________WIND, WIND GO AWAY!I am sure that everyone in SE Colorado has experienced enough of the wind this spring. Late last week the area experienced some of the highest wind gusts that I can remember in recent years. The NE portion of the state experienced blizzard conditions with road closures, electrical outages and most likely loss of livestock in those conditions. You don’t have to look too far south into Oklahoma and Texas and those states are fighting massive wildfires. Keep praying for moisture!

FIREBREAK ON CRPWith the dry conditions, wind and high fire danger, CRP producers may want to consider placing a fire break on existing CRP contracts. In accordance with the CRP Handbook, CRP participants are responsible for fire management on CRP acreage and this is considered a practice maintenance and is not cost shared. Producers who wish to install a fire break or a fuel break must modify their conservation plan of operations (CPO) to include fire management activity. CRP contracts in Kiowa County do not have fire management written into the existing CPO. This activity can be done during the primary nesting, again producers must contact NRCS to implement the fire management practice. 2018 Commodity Loan RatesThe office recently received notification of the 2018 crop year loan rates for Marketing Assistance Loans.

The wheat loan rate dropped 32 cents from the 2017 loan rate of $2.84. Grain sorghum added a penny, corn lost a penny and sunflowers dropped 15 cents from the 2017 rates. DROUGHT MONITORThis week’s map is of the entire U.S. and readers can see that New Mexico and southern portions of Colorado are sitting right in the middle of a seriously dry conditions. Specifically in Colorado this week, the D2 (Severe Drought) spread into Lincoln and Elbert counties. Kiowa County remains in a D2 category (severe drought), however the D3 category is still right on the southern border of the county.

Kiowa County begins the ‘normal growing season’ on Sunday April 15th - this date is important as the normal growing season is used to trigger the county for the Livestock Forage Program (LFP). The FSA Office hasn’t administered an LFP signup since the summer of 2014, therefore stay tuned, in next week’s UPDATE there will be more information concerning the LFP program.